Looking for VISA Driver Wizard expertise

[Dave_Thomson]

Several years ago, I did a project for a client in which I used the VISA Driver Wizard to create a driver for a custom piece of hardware with a USB interface. We interfaced to the driver in LabVIEW, and had it properly digitally signed so that it worked with W10.

Recently, the same client created a similar driver for another custom piece of hardware. It seems happy in Windows XP, but in Windows 10 it shows the dreaded yellow exclamation mark.They seem to have done all the same steps that I did, and since I wouldn't claim to be an expert on how to use the VISA Driver Wizard (I was really glad that I got it to work last time!), we are all at a bit of a roadblock as to how to proceed. Hence we're looking for someone with some experience with this tool who might be willing to consult for a few hours to help resolve the issue. Please respond here or PM me if you are interested.

Thanks!

    DaveT

[santo_13]

For Win10 and latest, you need to digitally sign the drivers for Windows to recognize.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/driver-signing

[rolfk]

Windows 10 changed the requirements for how the digital signature for drivers needs to be with Windows 10 1607 or somewhere around that.

Before that, a self signed driver was enough, after that you need to send the self signed driver (signed with an Extended Signing Certificate, not one of the simple Signing Certificates) to Microsoft and let them sign it with their own Signing Certificate. Only such drivers are guaranteed to be loaded by newer Windows versions. There is a back compatibility mode where when you upgrade a pre 1607 version of Windows 10 to a newer one, it will still accept those older self signed drivers, but a new installation post 1607 will normally insist on the more stringent signing.

This would indicate that there is probably some registry setting somewhere that you can change to make even newer Windows versions still accept self signed drivers but I did not investigate that path yet. It is likely deeply hidden and even with admin credentials may not be available for end users in an IT department managed installation.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-hardware-certification/driver-signing-changes-in-wind...

Note the exceptions at the end. It seems to be related to Secure Boot too. With that switched off it seems it should still work with the old signed drivers. But the whole matter is involved and not entirely consistent for sure.

[Dave_Thomson]

Thanks for the info, Rolf. As I mentioned, my previous effort was in W10 and was successful, with proper signing. Nonetheless, I agree that the signing sounds like the most likely source of problems, since they say it works under XP, and also since they did this driver without me, so I can't really say for sure that they did all the exact same steps. They also mentioned having found a way to turn off the signing requirement, but I don't know if they chased it down all the way yet. I'll forward them the link you included.

DaveT

[John_Ortega]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for putting this question out there and the responses that it has generated. Over the years, I've had lots of frustrating issues with getting VISA/serial communication to work. On the last try, I just gave up. But I'll explore these links and see if I can get something to work. John.